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Shape the dough into dumplings Keep working until the dough comes together and is soft, supple, and slightly elastic. Roll the mass into a large log and cut the log into four equal parts. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Roll the logs into ropes about % inch in diameter, cutting them in half if they're too long to work with. cooked produce the lightest dough. I've had good results with russets, also known as Idahoes. Yellow Finns, slightly lower in starch, work well, too. Avoid low-starch, "waxy" potatoes-they turn especially gluey when added to flour, producing leaden gnocchi. Boiling the potatoes in their jackets, draining them in a colander, and letting them dry in their own steam gives you a fluffy, starchy potato that in turn helps you get the lightest, driest, most tender dough. I've tried baking the potatoes for gnocchi, but helps give you a light, tender gnocchi dough. A 56 again, letting boiled potatoes dry on their own makes fluffy, starchy mashed potatoes that are easier to incorporate into the flour, giving you a lighter result. Use minimal kneading and just enough flour to bind the dough With the first knead, you'll be mixing the dough until blended. The mass should feel slightly firm, a little sticky, and malleable. Here it's important not to knead the dough too much, because kneading strengthens the gluten in the flour, producing tough gnocchi. The amount of flour you'll mix into the gnocchi dough is crucial-you need to straddle the line between not enough and just starchy potato enough flour. Follow the recipe until you get a good feel for the dough. It should feel soft, pliable, and slightly sticky. Adding too much flour makes the gnocchi heavy; adding too little means they'll fall apart in the boiling pot. With cutting and shaping, the dough develops elasticity. As you quarter it and roll it into rope-like lengths, the dough becomes firm enough to allow the characteristic scoring of the surface, and to let the dumplings hold their shape in the boiling water. At this point, it's fine to liberally flour the work surface, your hands, and the dough. Any flour that sticks to the gnocchi will dissolve in the boiling water rather than being incorporated into the dough. (Con(inued) FINE COOKI G